The future of journalism education conference (Part 3)

Beckett gives the example of the BBC, which has been one of the first fortresses to try and break out of the traditional mould. Last year, when London became snowed under, the capital literally came to a standstill, with many commuters unable to travel to work and schools and businesses shut down. Financially speaking, this was a disaster, yet when the BBC appealed to viewers to send through images of them "stranded" at home, photographs of the public revelling in the snow, revealed an alternative, lighter side that much of the mainstream media had failed to capture. "The contrast between society's take and that from within the fortresses was striking," said Beckett. 
 
Nevertheless, Beckett was keen to add that paradoxically, the protectionist culture also helped to shelter brave, risk-taking journalists. "So anything that replaces the fortresses has o do a better job, not simply tear down the walls," he said.

Network or die

Beckett's former colleague, Roger Silverstone, wrote about the notion of the media as an environment in his book Media and Morality published in 2006. Beckett agrees with Silverstone, who says that if we accept that the media is an environment, than we should accept that sometimes an environment can become polluted. Beckett also notes that the industry has failed to invest appropriately in new media and new ideas, referring to this as the "collective failure of the imagination," which has done little but serve the interests of a handful of media tycoons, desperate to hang onto their print empires.

Yet, Beckett remains confident that the public is still hungry for and will always be hungry for news and all that this entails, including "investigation, analysis and provision of credible information." So why is the industry in the position it finds itself in today? Beckett says one major problem is the vast amount of duplicated work that journalists are encouraged to produce, work which Beckett believes is becoming increasingly "formulaic, irrelevant and can be found elsewhere."

Beckett challenged everyone at the conference by asking them to think of a place in society where it would be acceptable practice for journalists and politicians to work together: "Why shouldn't there be partnerships with governments and NGOs, etc?" he asked. In so doing, Beckett acknowledged that he was calling into question the idea of journalism as a separate, Fourth Estate, but said talk of the press as a fully independent organism was a "myth". Quoting from Manuel Castells book, Communication Power, Beckett said: "Networked individualism is a culture, not an organisational form. A culture that starts with the values and projects of the individuals but builds a system of exchange with other individuals, thus reconstructing society rather than reproducing society."
 
Beckett urged the industry to make the most of the opportunities the current climate presents, but warned that age-old habits and laziness would no longer work on a digital-savvy public: "Journalism has to make a new contract with the citizen," he said.

For other articles on this series on the future of journalism education conference, please visit:

Part 1: Reinventing the journalism curriculum
Part 2: Integrated journalists for integrated newsrooms
Part 4: Tomorrow's journalist, an entrepreneurial spirit
Part 5: Media in a global context & Conclusions